The Pole
Vega
Hugh and Annie
Sun 20 Sep 2015 21:54
The inboard end of the pole is permanently fixed to a vertical track on the front of the mast and can slide up and down along the track. When stowed the inboard end of the pole is raised and the opposite end (that is outboard when the pole is horizontal) comes into the bottom of the mast so that the pole is mounted vertically on the mast. Setting the pole involves unclipping the outboard end of the pole from the fitting at the bottom of the mast and lowering the inboard end of the pole until it is at the right height for when the pole is horizontal. Two permanently rigged lines are now clipped onto the outer end of the pole. Both of these lines lead aft to the cockpit from where their length can be adjusted. The first line - the uphaul - comes down from the top of the mast and holds the end of the pole up in a horizontal position. The second line - the downhaul - runs through a pulley attached to the deck forward of the mast (actually to the base of the inner forestay attachment) and up to the end of the pole which stops the end from rising or swinging backwards. A third line - the guy - is now also attached to the outer end of the pole and comes back to the cockpit via a pulley attached to the side rail on the deck at the midship position. The guy prevents the pole from rising or moving forwards. Thus, with all three lines attached to the front of the pole and the inboard end attached to the mast the pole can be held in a fixed horizontal position and, with coordinated adjustment of the three lines, angled forwards, backwards, up or down as required.
Two further steps are required.
Firstly the sheet from the genoa needs to be led through the jaws on the outboard end of the pole on its way back to the cockpit so that the clew (bottom corner) of the genoa can be pulled out to the end of the pole. You can use one of the existing sheets already attached to the genoa but by attaching a third sheet from the genoa the two existing genoa sheets can be used, if required, to control the genoa independently of the pole if neither is attached to it. You simply let out the third sheet and the genoa can then be sheeted as normal, leaving the pole held in its fixed position to be stowed or used later. Secondly as the pole is telescopic it needs to be lengthened so that it is long enough to hold out the full width of the genoa. This is achieved by depressing two spring loaded lugs that go through holes in the outer casing of the pole so that the outer casing can slide over the inner until the lugs engage with the next set of holes in the outer casing. Three pole lengths are possible - the longest for the genoa, the middle for the staysail (a smaller sail than the genoa attached to the inner forestay) and the shortest for a spinnaker or the cruising chute.
Now, if all this sounds rather a faff thats because, well, it is. Which is why we have so far only rigged the pole in very light winds.
The reason for the pole is of course to hold the genoa out on the opposite side of the boat to the mainsail when running with the wind from behind. If the mainsail boom is also held in position with a line from the end of the boom to the front of the boat (the preventer) this stops the boom from swinging back and forwards as the boat rolls. A combination of pole and preventer makes for a very stable sail configuration for downwind sailing as illustrated in a previous post. Which means it can be at its most useful in stronger winds than a flat calm and when the boat is rolling.
So, practice makes perfect but any little refinements that ease the whole process are to be welcomed. One significant refinement has been the discovery that we do not have to rig up a separate guy line each time we use the pole. I may have mentioned that we have a staysail permanently hanked onto the inner forestay with sheets attached. One of these sheets untied from the staysail can be led through the cleat on the side rail at midships and up to the end of the pole - quick and hassle free. The second refinement is that if we leave the cruising chute sheet tied onto the rail and leave the block for running the sheet into the cockpit permanently attached to the rail, the sheet can be used as a third sheet for the genoa when using the pole. Another hassle avoided.
So, this leaves just one thing we have still to make easier and that is extending the pole to its full length. The sheet, guy, uphaul and downhaul all have to be attached when you can get at the outer end of the pole. This is before it is extended and the outer end is still resting on the deck. To extend the pole you need to lift the end so that the pole can extend out over the side rails and pulpit at the front of the boat. Holding the pole up while also trying to depress the lugs and pull out the outer casing away from the mast is hard work in a flat calm. The position is helped if the weight of the pole can be supported by the uphaul and all four lines let out while still supporting the pole as it is extended. This involves a spectacular amount of coordination between the person in the cockpit controlling the lines and the person up front trying to extend the pole without it swinging or rising and falling. Telepathy is essential but not always present and as hand signals are not an option for the person on the pole things can get a tad fraught. Annie and I have yet to perfect this aspect of the operation……………..However, a solution may be to hand as I have re-read Hal Roth’s “How To Sail Around the World”. In this informative tome Hal describes how he rigs his pole single handed, albeit the pole is not extendable. He ties the outboard end of the pole to the top of the pulpit before attaching the lines. We could try the same thing on Vega and then extend the pole through a loose tie to prevent it sliding off the pulpit; or perhaps supporting the pole with the uphaul and using the loose tie to stop the pole from swinging meaning that the person in the cockpit only has to control the uphaul and the other lines can be left free to extend with the pole. It will mean keeping the inner end of the pole low until the pole is extended so that it doesn’t extend down into the water though. Just need another flat calm to try this out…………….
Still awake?!